Spiritus Dei is the debut album of French trio Les Prêtres released in March 2010 and achieved success in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

Background

At the initiative of Mgr Jean-Michel di Falco, Bishop of Gap

Gap, Hautes-Alpes

Gap is a commune in southeastern France, the capital of the Hautes-Alpes department.-Geography:An Alpine crossroads at the intersection of D994 and Route nationale 85 the Route Napoléon, Gap lies above sea level along the right bank of the Luye River...

 and Embrun

Embrun, Hautes-Alpes

Embrun is a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.-Description:...

 (Hautes-Alpes), two priests and one seminarian in the diocese of Gap

Roman Catholic Diocese of Gap

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Gap, is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The episcopal see is Gap Cathedral, in the city of Gap, in the department of Hautes Alpes...

 recorded an album under the label of TF1 Musique for the benefit of two projects, the first one is for a pastoral purpose (construction of a church) and another is for a charity goal (construction of a school in Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

). The three singers are Jean-Michel Bardet, pastor of the Cathedral of Gap, Charles Troesch, chaplain of the Basilica of Our Lady of Laus

Our Lady of Laus

The apparitions of Our Lady of Laus between 1664 and 1718 in Saint-Étienne-le-Laus, France by Benoite Rencurel, a young shepherdess, are the first Marian apparitions to be approved in the 21st century by the Catholic Church.According to Father Salvatore M...

, and Nguyen Dinh Nguyen, seminarian in the diocese. This project was inspired by the Irish group The Priests

The Priests

The Priests are a classical musical group made up of three Catholic priests all from Northern Ireland. Fr Eugene and his brother Fr Martin O'Hagan are originally from the village of Claudy, County Londonderry with the family now residing in Derry whilst Fr David Delargy is from Ballymena, County...

.

The album contains a cover version of Daniel Lévi

Daniel Lévi

Daniel Lévi , is a French singer-songwriter, composer and pianist.-Biography:Daniel Lévi was born in Constantine, French Algeria. He spent his childhood in Lyon, where he was preparing for his job as a musician studying piano for a decade at the conservatory in the city. In 1983, he composed and...

's song, "L'Envie d'aimer" and another one of Francis Cabrel

Francis Cabrel

Francis Cabrel is a well-known French singer-songwriter and guitarist. Inspired heavily by Bob Dylan, he has released a number of albums falling mostly within the realm of folk, with occasional forays into blues or country. Several of his songs, such as "L'encre de tes yeux" and "Petite Marie"...

's 1987 hit "Il faudra leur dire".

Chart performances

The album entered the French Albums Chart at number five on 3 April and reached number one two weeks later, and remained atop for nine consecutive weeks. Its highest weekly sales are over 27,300 units on the chart edition of 30 May 2010. The album reached platinum status after a few weeks and became Diamond after eight months. It reached number-one again nine months after its release, on 1 January 2011.

The albums reached number five for three weeks on the Belgian (Wallonia) Albums Chart

Ultratop

Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts...

.

Track listings

1. "Spiritus Dei (Sarabande)" (Di Falco Leandri, George Frideric Handel
   George Frideric Handel
   George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
   
   ) — 4:13
2. "I Believe" (Levi) — 4:12
3. "Quand on n'a que l'amour" (Jacques Brel
   Jacques Brel
   Jacques Brel was a Belgian singer-songwriter who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following in France initially, and later throughout the world. He was widely considered a master of the modern chanson...
   
   ) — 3:30
4. "Il est né le divin enfant" — 2:59
5. "Ave Maria
   Ave Maria
   Ave Maria may refer to:*Ave Maria , the "Hail Mary", a traditional Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox prayer calling for the intercession of Mary, the mother of Jesus-Music:...
   
   " (Schubert) — 4:14
6. "Amazing Grace" (John Newton
   John Newton
   John Henry Newton was a British sailor and Anglican clergyman. Starting his career on the sea at a young age, he became involved with the slave trade for a few years. After experiencing a religious conversion, he became a minister, hymn-writer, and later a prominent supporter of the abolition of...
   
   ) — 4:45
7. "L'Envie d'aimer
   L'Envie d'aimer
   "L'Envie d'aimer" is a 2000 song recorded by French-born singer Daniel Lévi and the troupe of The Ten Commandments. Released as first single from the album Les Dix Commandements on June 2000, the song was a smash hit and the most successful single from the musical...
   
   " (Lionel Florence, Patrice Guirao, Pascal Obispo
   Pascal Obispo
   Pascal Michel Obispo is a French singer/songwriter.Pascal Obispo started singing in 1980. He got his first record deal in 1990, Le long du fleuve. With his second album, Plus que tout au monde, selling over 2 million albums, his songs became a popular success...
   
   ) — 4:38
8. "Ave Verum Corpus" (Mozart) — 3:00
9. "Je crois en toi" (Didier Barbelivien
   Didier Barbelivien
   Didier Barbelivien is a French author, lyricist, songwriter and singer. Beginning in the 1970s, he wrote a number of successful songs for artists such as: Dalida, Johnny Hallyday, Michel Sardou, Daniel Guichard, Claude François, Gilbert Montagné, Sylvie Vartan, Patti Layne, Gilbert Bécaud, Enrico...
   
   ) — 3:24
10. "Conversation avec Dieu" (Di Falco Leandri, Roger Loubet) — 4:19
11. "Alléluia (Hallelujah)" (Leonard Cohen
    Leonard Cohen
    Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
    
    ) — 4:45
12. "Il faudra leur dire" (Francis Cabrel
    Francis Cabrel
    Francis Cabrel is a well-known French singer-songwriter and guitarist. Inspired heavily by Bob Dylan, he has released a number of albums falling mostly within the realm of folk, with occasional forays into blues or country. Several of his songs, such as "L'encre de tes yeux" and "Petite Marie"...
    
    ) — 3:42
13. "Minuit Chrétien" (Adolphe Adam
    Adolphe Adam
    Adolphe Charles Adam was a French composer and music critic. A prolific composer of operas and ballets, he is best known today for his ballets Giselle and Le corsaire , his operas Le postillon de Lonjumeau , Le toréador and Si j'étais roi , and his Christmas...
    
    ) — 4:03
14. "L'histoire de Spiritus Dei" (Florent Bidoyen, Jean-Michel Di Falco Leandri, Roger Loubet) — 2:44

Peak positions

Chart (2010)	Peak position
Belgian (Wallonia) Albums Chart	5
European Top 100 Albums European Top 100 Albums The European Top 100 Albums chart is the European adaptation of the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was created in March 1984.The European Top 100 Albums, commonly referred to as Eurochart Top 100 Albums shows the sales of an act in 19 European countries based on IFPI data.The European Top 100...	23
French SNEP Albums Chart	1
Swiss Albums Chart	32

Year-end charts

Chart (2010)	Peak position
Belgian (Wallonia) Albums Chart	24